Life and start ups — My learnings (Part 1)
Might be bit too cliche to say this but I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. While I am still far from achieving anything impactful in life, I have been fortunate enough to start up once, and to be involved in a couple of early stage organizations that are now leaving a big impact in the world. My first ‘company’ was in college and it didn’t go too far. I then joined a start up in India called Zomato — when the office was still in a house. Today Zomato is valued at ~$2 billion and with 4,000 employees around the world. I always say that the 3 years at Zomato was the best class on Entrepreneurship that I could have attended. I quit (and have now re-joined), eager to leave my own mark on the world and started a company called PressPlay (OTT video streaming in India). We were lucky to have a great team and great set of investors including Sequoia Capital with us. Unfortunately the end wasn’t what we had dreamt off, but not a single day passes when I am not thankful for the experience. So here are my learnings from the 3 years of me being an (early stage) entrepreneur. In no particular order —
- Startups are incredibly tough and like everything in life, wont work if you are 50% in it. Be 100% committed from day 1. If you are afraid you might fail, then its not going to work.
- Be prepared for the loneliness — I had a large circle of work friends that I used to socialize with. And that changed overnight and it hit me hard. Founder/CEO is a lonely place to be in.
- Its never too early to get a great team together. And raise money. There is really no point overthinking the latter. Its a resource which helps you get from point A to point B. So if you have someone who is ready to back you and if everything seems good then go for it. But remember, money only solves the problem of money.
- Get a mentor. Someone who has been there, done that— he/she will also help you navigate all professional and non professional challenges of being a founder.
- Get a co-founder who compliments your skills. Mine was a close friend and that worked out well for me. Be an equal partner in everything but not on the cap table. In case of differences, there has to be one who makes the final decision. Always be honest with each other. You have enough battles to fight with the world.
- Be frugal — doesn’t matter what stage you are at.
- Be humble.
- Always take out time for things that make you happy. And people that make you happy.
- Invest in creating a good (not fancy!) work environment. Lost productivity is expensive.
- Follow your gut. Work with the 70% info that you might have. Don’t overthink. If you make a mistake, fix it and move on.
- Not everyone in your team is going be a ‘ninja’ or a ‘superstar’ or ‘entrepreneurial’. Its ok. Work with them to get the best out of them. People respond to being led.
- Lead in a way that your team responds to and not the other way round.
- Once you hit product market fit, speed is your best friend. Execute and do nothing else. Hustle is important but so is the right strategy.
- Startup conferences/panel discussions etc. are a waste of time.
- Tough to calculate the ROI, but good PR is useful.
- A founder once told me that after couple of years of shutting shop, you remember the good parts of being an entrepreneur more fondly. I think I can now vouch for that.
- You start looking 10 years older than what you actually are :/
- Pick your battles.
- Always be honest with your investors and update them regularly. Over communicate with the ones that are critical of what you are doing.
- Enjoy the ride. You are living your dream. Very few people get to do that.
P.S. — All the points are probably there on the internet already in lots of other articles, but I still wanted to share my journey. Hopefully, will publish part 2 soon.
